D.K. McDonald appreciates his time at Iowa State, reviews Arizona

D.K. McDonald spent 2016-2020 at Iowa State coaching the Cyclones’ secondary. McDonald talked about his relationship with Matt Campbell ahead of returning to Ames. He also talked about what he sees from the Cyclones’ offense and Kansas’ complimentary pass rush and coverage against Arizona.

McDonald called Matt Campbell a great man

McDonald has spent a decade coaching with Campbell over their time at Toledo and Iowa State. The Jayhawks’ defensive coordinator called Campbell one of the best coaches in the country, emphasizing that Campbell is an even better person.

“The biggest thing I always remember about Coach Campbell is that he’s the greatest coach as he is, he’s even a better person,” McDonald said. “He’s a tremendous coach, a tremendous father, tremendous husband. And those are the things I always remember about Coach Campbell, and I appreciate the time that I got to spend with him.”

Iowa State offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser has worked his way up from a graduate assistant to running the Cyclones’ offense. While the two may have overlapped, McDonald said there have been enough changes to the staff that the offense is different.

“That offense has changed, you know, so much,” McDonald said. “It’s about three coordinators removed since I was there, so, you know, just like every good team, they begin to transform and morph into different things, and so they’re just different.”

Iowa State’s offense is unique, use a lot of heavy personnel

One thing that stood out about Iowa State’s offense to McDonald is the utilization of its tight ends. He said the Cyclones often use multiple, running 12, 13, even 14 personnel. McDonald highlighted Benjamin Brahmer, a focal point of Iowa State’s offense who has caught five touchdowns.

“They’ll have two, three, four tight ends on the field at a time. That’s very uncommon in college football nowadays,” McDonald said. “And the tight ends that they put out there are really good. I think [Brahmer] is the best tight end in the conference. And so he’s a tough matchup, so when they’re in 12, they can line up still in a spread offense and give him the ball and different things like that.”

McDonald said Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht is “right there at the top” in a conference full of good quarterback play. Becht has completed almost 60% of passes this season and has thrown 12 touchdowns.

“In a conference full of really good quarterbacks, he’s right there at the top and he’s one of my favorite guys to watch,” McDonald said. “He does a great job. You know, he’s tough, he’s a competitor, he really works hard and he delivers some great passes to those guys too.”

Coverage and pressure worked together against Arizona

Kansas tallied five sacks against Arizona, the most the Jayhawks have had in a game this season. While McDonald dialed up a lot of blitzes, he said the coverage and pressure were in sync to help the Jayhawks get after Noah Fifita.

“It wasn’t so much the pressure, it was the coverage and the pressure working together,” McDonald said. “And I think they always got to work hand in hand as the marriage of the two. You can have pressure on a guy, but if you don’t cover it really doesn’t matter. And then if you’re covering and guys don’t get there, that doesn’t matter.”

The Jayhawks’ young secondary has grown over the course of the season. McDonald said he’s started to see the game slow down for some of his young corners, and they’ve taken things from the film room to the field.

“They also did a good job of taking stuff from the film room to the field,” McDonald said. “And that’s fun to see for guys, especially for young guys. Especially because young guys, sometimes you’re just out there playing a little bit, and they understand that because everything’s new and the game’s moving fast. But I think for some of those guys, like Austin, you know, that game is slowing down a little bit for him.”